English club and Spanish club co-sponsor special lecture

Joseph Bates, Staff Writer
February 16, 2012
Filed under News & Features

The Reilley Room was filled with students who came to see Le Moyne’s very own Dr. Chris Warner, professor of English, deliver a lecture entitled “Unhappy Caballeros at the Court of Mary I and England’s First Printed Sonnets” last Thursday, Feb. 9.

It was the second lecture in a series given by Le Moyne English professors, an initiative started by the English club last semester.

In this lecture, Warner argued that the Spanish members of Queen Mary I’s court brought the Italian poetic forms, most importantly the sonnet, to England, which indirectly led to the poetry of Shakespeare.

He began the lecture by describing a collection of poetry originally released in 1557 called “Songes and Sonnettes” or “Tottel’s Miscellany,” which featured poems by the Earl of Surrey, Thomas Wyatt, Nicholas Grimal and other English writers. It had a number of poems written using Italian forms.

Warner then described a similar collection of Spanish poetry released in 1511, with numerous editions released afterwards. This collection was called “Cancionero General” and eventually featured sonnets. A later edition of this Spanish collection featured sonnets and other poetry about how King Phillip II should return to Spain and his mistress Isabella.